


in the days and moments between

by silverfoxflower



Category: Pacific Rim (2013), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Multi, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, The Drift (Pacific Rim), Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-19
Updated: 2015-04-19
Packaged: 2018-03-24 16:43:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3775945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverfoxflower/pseuds/silverfoxflower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s all over the news for weeks afterward: pictures of Newt Geiszler in his Iron Man suit, flying a live nuclear bomb into the breach, videos of Raleigh mowing down level one kaiju in twos and threes with his shield, Hermann in his Hulk form wrestling with Slattern. Chuck’s face and identity were largely kept out of the press (by virtue of his perch atop the skyscraper ), but Mako's pictures are pasted right next to Raleigh’s in the tabloids and most of her espionage covers are effectively burned. </p><p><i>tough luck. have fun not getting shot at</i>, Chuck texts her from the airport. He’s leaving for Argentina on a month-long undercover but Mako’s responsibilities as an agent are being “reconsidered”. </p>
            </blockquote>





	in the days and moments between

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tielan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/gifts).



> I've been meaning to write a Mako Mori!Black Widow for the longest time, since the parallels between Pacific Rim and the Avengers were too fun to pass up. Maybe later I'll write something more to the pulpy spirit of both movies haha.

Raleigh walks into the bunker after the helicarrier nearly blows over the Atlantic ocean to find Agent Hansen– the one who had taken out a dozen agents with deadly precision, the one they said was brainwashed – unrestrained and sitting on the edge of his medical cot with Mako next to him, pressed shoulder to shoulder.

In the doorway, Raleigh freezes until Mako looks up at him, unafraid, and nods slowly. There’s a bruise blossoming on her cheek and a cut on her lip. Agent Hansen is similarly banged up, and the look he cuts Raleigh is flat and defensive. 

“The Kaiju will be swarming the city soon and we need all hands on deck.” Raleigh says, making his tone authoritative and brisk. Growing up, Yancy had been the natural leader of the two of them, but Captain America had to live up to the name. “Can you fight?” 

“Just try and stop me.” Agent Hansen stands and Mako follows. Strike Team Delta, a well-oiled machine. 

“Then suit up.” Raleigh says, and hopes that no inappropriate envy is evident in his tone. 

\--

“Captain America?” Chuck asks, curling his lip in nothing that looks like a smile. “That guy? Did Herc show him his trading cards-“ 

And he stops. Grits his teeth because he _forgot_. 

“This is not the time to blame yourself.” Mako says firmly. “What matters now is that you fight for him. And avenge him.” 

\--

It’s all over the news for weeks afterward: pictures of Newt Geiszler in his Iron Man suit, flying a live nuclear bomb into the breach, videos of Raleigh mowing down level one kaiju in twos and threes with his shield, Hermann in his Hulk form wrestling with Slattern. Chuck’s face and identity were largely kept out of the press (by virtue of his perch atop the skyscraper ), but Mako's pictures are pasted right next to Raleigh’s in the tabloids and most of her espionage covers are effectively burned. 

_tough luck. have fun not getting shot at_ , Chuck texts her from the airport. He’s leaving for Argentina on a month-long undercover but Mako’s responsibilities as an agent are being “reconsidered”. 

Mako stands in the hallway outside of Director Pentecost’s office, staring at her phone for far longer than it really takes to absorb the message. Change is surmountable, she tells herself, change is inevitable. But before Chuck agreed to partner with her she’d been a Level 4 Asset, barred from field work and figuratively chained to her Special Analyst position, a position, it was whispered, she got only because she was the Director’s adoptive daughter. 

And before the Director adopted her, Mako had been imprisoned in a SHIELD facility, an 8-by-10 metal box in solitary confinement. And before that she’d lived in an orphanage where she’d been non-figuratively chained to her bed every night. 

So. Change. 

“Mori.” Herc walks out of Pentecost’s office. His shoulder and left arm are swathed in bandages and he’s leaning most of his weight on his cane, but he’s _alive_. “The Director will see you now.” He gives Mako a tired smile as he passes, squeezing her shoulder with his good hand. 

She is surprised to walk into the room and see Captain Beckett standing in the corner. Even in civvies he’s distractingly good looking, his navy cable knit sweater drawing out the blue of his eyes. There’s something to be said, Mako thinks, for the cosmetic enhancements of the super soldier serum but then again Raleigh has always been pretty. She’d seen the files. The potential of all of this had been in his bones. 

“Agent Mori,” Director Pentecost greets her with a nod. Long ago, they had decided on a stringent formality in the work place. “While the younger Agent Hansen is otherwise occupied, you will be assigned to work with Captain Beckett. Unless you have any objections.” 

“No, Sir.” Mako murmurs, glancing at Raleigh. “As long as Captain Beckett does not have any either.” 

“I requested you.” Raleigh says, and Mako smiles. 

\--

The first time that Raleigh meets Mako is not outside the helicarrier, on that bright spring morning at the eve of the end of the world. 

The first time that Raleigh meets Mako is a few months prior, on a cold, rainy February day. 

“I see you’ve taken my advice about working out your stress,” Director Pentecost’s voice cuts through the room. Raleigh doesn’t even look up from his current bag. His knuckles are bruised and bleeding, his entire body aching with exertion. But last night he’d dreamt of Yancy falling off the train, his hand outstretched and his face contorted with fear. In the dream, he screamed all the way down. Cries for help. Accusations. Endless repetitions of Raleigh’s name. 

“I’ve already agreed to your proposal.” Raleigh says, turning to unwrap his wrists. Two more bags sit in the corner of the room, their skins split open and their filling spilling out of the open gashes. 

“This isn’t a sales pitch.” Pentecost says, and Raleigh finally looks up. There is a woman behind Pentecost, turned away as she shakes off her umbrella. When she glances at Raleigh he thinks, _she is lovely_ , but also something more. Something in the tilt of her chin, the dark of her eyes gives Raleigh pause.

Then she turns to Pentecost and says in Japanese, _he isn’t that I expected._

 _”Better or worse?”_ Raleigh asks, also in Japanese, and enjoys the way her eyes widen and, a second later, a small smile flits over her face.” 

Pentecost introduces her as Agent Mako Mori, codename Black Widow, another candidate for the Avengers Initiative. It was strange, Raleigh would think later, to be part of something again. A fledgling group, uncertain in even its existence. But still, for the first time since he’d woken from a 70-year nap to the sound of a fake radio broadcast, Raleigh feels a startling sense of hope in his pervasive grief.  
\--

Argentina in the summertime, where peak humidity feels like breathing underwater. Chuck spends every off-duty minute inside, somewhere high and cool and dark. On-duty, he and Agent Cheung Wei take shifts staking out a laboratory building outside San Juan. Their orders are to report all movements and, when signal is given, to follow and intercept packages or people of interest. 

“Hey,” Wei asks over comm, a couple of days after they’d started working together. “You work with her, right – the Black Widow?” 

“Agent Mori.” Chuck says, “What’s it to you?” 

“Nothing, man,” Cheung asks, laughing. “Just wondering, you know, what she’s like. There are rumors.” 

“Not as chatty as you, that’s for sure.” Chuck replies. There is a flurry of amusement over the comm and a smatter of Russian. 

“Sasha wants to know if you’re still pining over her,” Cheung says, “That’s why you won’t go out for drinks with us.” 

“I don’t drink with you guys because you’re assholes.” Chuck says, and everyone cracks up again. It annoys him how they go out of their way to never take offense at anything he says, even when he means it. 

\--

“If you don’t mind me asking, what is your relationship with Hans- … Chuck?” Raleigh asks, wiping the pizza grease off of his fingers. 

Mako looks down at her half-eaten slice, the bright orange grease pooling on her white minimalist plate, and wonders if it’s worth it to lie. 

“He’s the first one who trusted me.” She says finally, staring Raleigh in the eye. “After Stacker.” 

Raleigh continues chewing, watching her. He’s in Mako’s apartment, making sure she doesn’t fall asleep on a concussion. She didn’t tell him that he’s only the third person in the world who has ever seen the inside of it. 

“You’ve read my file, I’m sure.” Mako says, glancing over Raleigh’s shoulder to the shield he left propped up against her doorway. It looks alien in this domestic setting – scuffed up and gleaming in her dim lamplight. “The things I’ve done?” 

“What wasn’t redacted, yeah.” Raleigh says. 

“And?” Mako asks, forcing herself to take a bite of her pizza despite the nausea. “If it were up to me to save your life, would you trust me to do it?” 

Raleigh is silent for a long minute, and Mako feels her chest tighten. 

“I think,” he says quietly. “That you have your own loyalties. And I don’t know where I fall in that spectrum, but yes, something tells me that I can trust you to have my back.” 

Mako nods, slowly, looking at Raleigh eyes over the remains of their takeout pizza. She’ll live up to it, she wants to tell him, but the commitment in those words scares her. 

A meowing from under the table draws Raleigh’s attention. “Oh,” he says, “Hello.” 

Mako bends down to scoop Liho from the ground, settling her on her lap. 

“I didn’t know you had a cat.” Raleigh says. 

“She’s not my cat.” Mako says, feeling Liho purr as she starts scratching her under her chin. “She’s just a stray that gets in occasionally and barters affection for wet cat food.” 

“That sounds an awful lot like having a cat.” Raleigh says, watching Mako as she stands from the table and walks to the kitchen with Liho trailing after her. 

“Chuck is not my boyfriend,” Mako says, opening the pantry and pulling out a cat dish, can opener, and container of tuna that had Liho meowing excitedly. “The same way that Liho is not my cat.” 

She turns away with a smile when she sees Raleigh’s deeply confused expression. 

\--

Mako’s not the one who finds him on the bank of the river. Raleigh’s already being loaded into the back of the ambulance when she runs up. 

“Thank god,” she says, tears blurring her vision she watches the rise and fall of his chest. “Raleigh. Thank god.” 

He turns toward her when she squeezes his cold hand, opening his eyes with great effort. He’s trying to say something, something that sounds like _Yancy_ , but Mako doesn’t try to understand, just holds his hand until she is firmly pushed away by an EMT. 

\--

Chuck doesn’t get the news about Pentecost’s assassination because he’s in an induced coma in a St. Petersburg hospital. He doesn’t get the news about SHIELD’s collapse until days afterward, when he wakes groggy and under heavy sedative to see Mako’s face on CNN, in the middle of a senate committee hearing. 

It’s finally Herc who gets in contact with him. “It’s gone.” He says. “All of it. We are doing what we can to extract our active field agents.” There is a pause on the line. “I’m glad you’re okay, son.” 

Chuck swallows. “Were any of them … Sasha, Alexis. The triplets.” 

“None of them were Hydra as far as we know,” Herc says. 

“Good.” Chuck says, feeling shaken. It doesn’t make them any less dead, but at least they died heroes, not traitors. “When can you get me out of here?” 

“As soon as your internal organs can function without machines.” Mako’s voice floats from the doorway. She’s smiling, that sly little smile that she makes to her own jokes. 

“Well isn’t this just Budhapest all over again.” Chuck says dryly, but when Mako walks forward and carefully embraces him, he holds her as tightly as he dares. “What is going to happen?” he asks, when she pulls away. 

“Everything is going to change.” She says, a thoughtful look on her face. “For the better, maybe. Maybe for the worse. But it had to change.” 

\--

Sometime later, they’re all sitting on the top floor of Geiszler Tower, laughing as Hermann and Newt bicker about science and Mako feels Raleigh’s besweatered arm slide over her shoulder. She looks over to see him looking at her questioningly, earnest and a little shy. 

When she glances at Chuck, he rolls his eyes and bumps his ankle against hers under the coffee table. 

\--

Sometime later, she walks into the training room to find Raleigh and Chuck staring at each other. They’d fallen silent as soon as she entered, looked about two seconds away from either fighting or fucking, as the case were. 

Mako turns on her heel and leaves.

\--

Sometime later, there is a war, and then another war. Chuck stops trusting her, and Raleigh leaves for a while but comes back, changed. Everything gets worse and then better again. 

Sometime later, maybe.


End file.
